walk-through

a rehearsal in which physical action is combined with reading the lines of a play.

a perfunctory performance of a script.

2.

Television, Movies. a rehearsal without cameras.

3.

a step-by-step demonstration of a procedure or process or a step-by-step explanation of it as a novice attempts it.

4.

a pedestrian passageway or arcade through the ground floor of a building connecting one street or building with another.

adjective

5.

designed to be walked through by an observer:

The zoo has a walk-through aviary where the birds are all around you.

6.

activated by a person passing through:

a walk-through electronic scanner at the airport for detecting concealed weapons.

Origin of walk-through

1935-1940

1935-40; noun, adj. use of verb phrase walk through

walk

[wawk] /wɔk/

verb (used without object)

1.

to advance or travel on foot at a moderate speed or pace; proceed by steps; move by advancing the feet alternately so that there is always one foot on the ground in bipedal locomotion and two or more feet on the ground in quadrupedal locomotion.

2.

to move about or travel on foot for exercise or pleasure:

We can walk in the park after lunch.

3.

(of things) to move in a manner suggestive of walking, as through repeated vibrations or the effect of alternate expansion and contraction:

He typed so hard that the lamp walked right off the desk.

4.

Baseball. to receive a base on balls.

5.

Slang.

to go on strike; stage a walkout:

The miners will walk unless they get a pay raise.

to be acquitted or to be released or fined rather than sentenced to jail:

If the prosecutor doesn't present his case well, the murderer may walk.

6.

to go about on the earth, or appear to living persons, as a ghost:

to believe that spirits walk at night.

7.

(of a tool, pointer, or pen of a recording device, etc.) to glide, slip, or move from a straight course, fixed position, or the like:

A regular drill bit may walk on a plastic surface when you first try to make a hole. When the earthquake started, the pen on the seismograph walked all over the paper.

8.

to conduct oneself in a particular manner; pursue a particular course of life:

to walk humbly with thy God.

9.

Basketball. (of a player in possession of the ball) to take more than two steps without dribbling or passing the ball.

10.

Obsolete. to be in motion or action.

verb (used with object)

11.

to proceed through, over, or upon at a moderate pace on foot:

walking London streets by night; walking the floor all night.

12.

to cause to walk; lead, drive, or ride at a walk, as an animal:

We walked our horses the last quarter of a mile.

13.

to force or help to walk, as a person:

They were walking him around the room soon after his operation.

14.

to conduct or accompany on a walk:

He walked them about the park.

15.

to move (a box, trunk, or other object) in a manner suggestive of walking, as by a rocking motion.

before 1000; (v.) Middle Englishwalken,Old Englishwealcan to roll, toss, gewealcan to go; cognate with Dutch,Germanwalken to full (cloth), Old Norsevālka to toss; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.

Meaning shifted in early Middle English, perhaps from colloquial use of the Old English word. "Rarely is there so specific a word as NE walk, clearly distinguished from both go and run" [Buck]. Meaning "to go away" is recorded from mid-15c. Transitive meaning "to exercise a dog (or horse)" is from late 15c. The surname Walker probably preserves the cloth-fulling sense. Related: Walked; walking.

n.

late 14c., "act of walking" (see walk (v.)). The noun meaning "broad path in a garden" is from 1530s; walk of life is from 1752. Sports sense of "base on balls" is recorded from 1905. To win in a walk (1854) is from horse racing.

walk through

To explain something carefully and gradually; learn something by going slowly through the steps: I'll walk you through it one more time; you nearly have it right

[mid-1800s+ Theater; fr the practice of learning a role partly by moving about onstage without speaking the lines]

walk

verb

(also, earlier, walk free) To be released from prison (1970s+)

To be acquitted of or otherwise freed from a criminal indictment: more killers walk because of the incompetence of arresting officers/ Actually, I'm gonna cop a plea. A $15 fine and I'll walk(late 1950s+)

(also, fr 1890s, walk out) To go out on strike: Several more Caterpillar locals have decided to walk(1970s+ Labor unions)

To leave someone, esp a spouse or lover; get lost, take a hike: She said if he didn't straighten out he could walk

walk-through

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.Cite This Source

Idioms and Phrases with walk through

walk through

1.

Perform in a perfunctory fashion, as in She was just walking through her job, hoping to quit very soon. This idiom originally referred to practicing parts in a play at an early rehearsal. It was applied more broadly from the late 1800s. Also see go through the motions

2.

walk someone through. Instruct someone carefully, one step at a time, as in He was very helpful, walking me through all the steps in this complex computer program.